Chapter 8 - The Voice Behind the DoorSarah knew that voice.
Every woman knows the sound of the person she thought she trusted.
Her blood turned to ice.
“Who is that?”
Daniel stared toward the staircase.
“I don't know.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Don't lie to me again.”
“I swear.”
The voice came once more.
“Sarah.”
A light clicked on in the hallway.
A man stood at the far end.
Tall.
Thin.
Dark hair.
A scar along his eyebrow.
Sarah stared.
“Nathan?”
The man smiled.
“No.”
Margaret whispered:
“Then who?”
He stepped closer.
Sarah's heart hammered.
He looked almost identical to the photograph of Nathan.
But older.
Different.
More severe.
James suddenly whispered:
“Michael.”
The man's smile disappeared.
“You remember me.”
Sarah looked between them.
“Who is Michael?”
James's hands shook.
“My eldest son.”
Daniel stared.
“You were dead.”
“So was Father.”
Eleanor came down the stairs.
Everyone looked at her.
Michael turned toward her.
“Tell her.”
Eleanor remained silent.
Michael laughed.
“You always liked dead children.”
Sarah pulled Leo closer.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I own half of this house.”
Sarah frowned.
“That's impossible.”
“Your mother's name is on the original deed.”
He held up a document.
Sarah looked at the signature.
Her mother's.
The date was twenty-three years old.
Michael continued.
“Eleanor stole this property after my father's disappearance.”
Sarah glanced at James.
“Then what happened to Nathan?”
Michael's expression changed.
“He is alive.”
“What?”
Michael looked toward the basement.
“He's the reason Eleanor has been afraid all night.”
Sarah looked at Eleanor.
“You said he died.”
“I said many things.”
Michael stepped closer.
“The three knocks were his.”
Sarah remembered.
“Three knocks?”
“The Walker family code.”
James nodded slowly.
“Three knocks means the person outside has evidence.”
Sarah's breathing quickened.
“Where is Nathan?”
Michael looked at Leo.
“He has him.”
Sarah froze.
“Has who?”
Michael didn't answer.
A loud cry came from upstairs.
Leo cried in Sarah's arms.
Another baby cry followed.
But not from Leo.
Sarah looked upward.
“There is another child.”
Daniel ran.
“Stay here.”
Sarah followed.
They rushed into the nursery.
The crib was empty.
Sarah screamed.
“Leo!”
Daniel spun around.
“Sarah!”
Then he saw the baby in her arms.
Sarah stopped.
Leo was there.
Safe.
She looked at the second crib.
Empty.
The crying came from behind a closed cabinet.
Sarah approached it.
Opened the doors.
Nothing.
Then she noticed the wall behind it.
A tiny vent.
The crying was coming through it.
Daniel looked horrified.
“There shouldn't be anything behind that wall.”
Margaret appeared in the doorway.
“There is.”
She touched the wall.
“It connects to the old maternity room.”
Sarah stared.
“Maternity room?”
Margaret nodded.
“Eleanor used it when she was hiding the births.”
Sarah looked down at Leo.
“What births?”
Margaret's face was pale.
“Two babies.”
“Two?”
“Yes.”
Sarah's mind raced.
The second crib.
The hidden room.
Michael.
Nathan.
Eleanor.
“What happened to the other baby?”
No one answered.
Then a phone began ringing.
It was inside the wall.
Sarah tore at the panel.
A tiny old mobile phone fell out.
It rang again.
She answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“Sarah, don't trust Michael.”
Her heart stopped.
“Nathan?”
“No.”
The caller breathed.
Then said:
“I'm the man who was supposed to be Leo's father.”
The call ended.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“Who is this?”
Daniel stared at the phone.
Then he said:
“I know.”
Sarah waited.
Daniel swallowed.
“My father's lawyer.”
Before anyone could speak, the mansion's alarm began screaming.
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And from downstairs came a single sentence shouted by police.
“Everyone freeze!”
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